Network devices require unique Media Access Control (MAC) addresses in order to communicate across physical or virtual networks. Traditionally, MAC addresses are assigned by the manufacture of the device from a pool of unique addresses that the manufacture acquires from the IEEE regulatory body. The assigned MAC addresses then are typically hardwired into the device. The MAC address may comprise six octets of address where the first three octets are assigned by the IEEE and the last three octets are assigned by the owner of the device. However, synthetic network devices, such as those found in Virtual Machines (VMs), and dynamic addressing physical devices have MAC addresses that may change or may be dynamically assigned or reassigned and then used or reused. Such devices on the same network segment may cause duplicate addresses to be exposed on the same network segment, thereby impeding network connectivity of both devices. In order to prevent duplications, a system or method must be implemented to arbitrate the use of a MAC address on a given network. Conventionally, when a duplicate dynamic MAC address is detected, the instantiating addresses are changed. On the other hand, virtual machine products such as Microsoft Virtual Server™ can query devices on its physical box to determine if a MAC address is in use. Unfortunately, existing products such as Microsoft Virtual Server™ and Microsoft Virtual PC™ do not adequately solve this MAC addressing problem by, for example, permitting queries across multiple machines and allow machines with duplicate MAC addresses to attempt to communicate on the same network segment.
A technique is desired that, for example, allows a central arbitrator to allocate and manage the MAC addresses for all dynamic addressing network devices on the network so as to ensure uniqueness or that allows devices to prevent other devices from using their MAC addresses. For network security and reliability, a system is desired that will provide and arbitrate the use of unique MAC addresses across physical networks and across product lines and manufacturers, even when synthetic network devices and/or dynamic addressing physical devices are used on the network. The present invention is designed to address these needs in the art.